Gale Is Mine, I Am His
by TheHungerGames71
Summary: A progression of the life Gale & Katniss have together. Gale, Katniss, Peeta, & their families will all be included. Please rate, review, & favorite!
1. Good Morning

Hi, guys! This first chapter was a one-shot Galeniss I had written a while ago (unable to think of a proper ending or continuation) but I am going to continue working on it and share it with you all :) To avoid any confusion, it starts off taking place with Katniss at 17... Please review, and favorite/follow if you'd like to continue and get updates on this story! Thanks so much :)

**GALE POV**

It had been a dark time in the month of November for those who lived in the Seam. It was an especially cold winter, and, as always, funds grew low for all of the families during this season.

I walked over to the Everdeen household to deliver Katniss' share of game from my daily snares. Unusually, she hadn't felt up to going in to the woods today. Prim had ran over to my house to alert me that her older sister wouldn't be joining me today on our route.

Flurries fell from the sky and gently landed on my skin. They were nothing but a nuisance and kept Katniss and I out of the woods more often than in the spring or summer time. I knew she yearned for her 18th birthday in May and the strong sun up against her face, basking in warmth of the day.

I continued the short walk to their home and knocked slightly on the wooden door for entry. I was quickly allowed in by Mrs. Everdeen, who then offered me green tea with raspberries that we had harvested last week as she took my game bag. I accepted, as the hot drink soon invigorated my body.

I then turned the corner down the hall without approval into Katniss' bedroom to find her curled up in bed with the covers softly tucked around her. There was a slight beam of sunlight from the sunset entering through the window to her right which illuminated a sliver of her face. It highlighted her beautiful olive skin tone and rich, brown hair, and also an eyelid, which covered up an eye that could peer right into my soul.

I quietly placed my rough, calloused hand on her own soft hand peeking out from the covers. She immediately woke, exposing both of her gray-green eyes as they adjusted to the subtle light in the room.

"Hi, Catnip," my voice croaked from the lack of conversation and companionship in the woods today.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come out with you today," she apologized after taking a moment or two to properly wake up. Her eyes quickly went from our interlocked hands to my own eyes, and I could feel the sadness in her eyes as she met mine.

"Don't worry about it. I just came by the drop of your share of the game. It smells like your mom is making stew," I said with a smile.

She quickly turned over and burrowed herself back into the covers.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

She mumbled something inaudible into a pillow.

"Sounds like Buttercup's got your tongue," I laughed.

She quickly sat up and wrapped her arms around my neck as I sat on the edge of her bed, and I reciprocated by putting my arms around her waist and embracing her, giving her a tight squeeze around her small frame.

"Ow, Gale," she cried, her usual response.

I could feel her face sink into my shoulder and she continued to cry.

After a few moments, she pulled back and looked at me and apologized again, "I'm sorry, Gale."

"Katniss, it's really no big deal. It was just one day that-"

She cut me off, responding, "No, not that."

"Then, what?" I questioned as I looked at her forehead earnestly, her head now hung low, dawdling with her fingernails.

"You are so good to me, and I do not thank you enough," she took me off guard as she looked up at me.

"It's fine. I know how you feel, you know how I-"

She cut me off again. This girl.

"No, Gale." I was corrected again. "I love you."

I was completely taken aback. She had never, ever, mouthed those words to me, but I had to her.


	2. Before the Reaping

**GALE POV (Flashback)**

It was a picturesque day in The Meadow, well, for myself it had been. Despite the sunshine and warmth, the spring day coincided with the same day Katniss's name was placed twenty-six times in a large, glass bowl awaiting the well-manicured hand of Effie Trinket to retrieve one, single slip that not only signified the deportation of a District 12 girl to The Capitol, but their likely death as well. Prim and Rory were in twice. Katniss reluctantly agreed to meet me at our spot this afternoon after asking her the night before.

_Our families had been gathered at my own home for dinner. Even though she put up a front for the kids, I could tell that as everyone ate, Katniss wasn't even able to take more than three bites. And it wasn't to ration off the food like we usually do. Her nerves had the best of her, and ever since my nineteenth birthday I had been partially relieved of the stress of my own name in the reaping bowl. But, I had taken on even more stress with the addition of even more entries of Katniss, Prim, and Rory, and even with Vick's twelfth birthday lurking omnisciently a year ahead._

_Before Katniss, Prim, and their mother headed home, I pulled her outside in the yard. We slowly strolled amongst the garden my mother tended to that yielded herbs and some vegetables. The silence between us was comfortable and our worries for the next day filled the space between us. I glanced at the setting sun and then took a look at the reflection in Katniss' eyes._

_"See you tomorrow in the woods?" I asked with a tinge of longing in my voice._

_"As always, Hawthorne," she replied, cracking a nervous, closed-mouth smile._

_What she did next took me by surprise. She quickly lifted her own frame against mine with the strength of her tip-toes and wrapped her arms around my neck. I snaked my arms around her waist and basked in the moment of the sunset shining on the two of us as if it was an average night amongst the average lives of two people. But there was nothing average about Katniss, or The Capitol and their Hunger Games, or the pain flickering in the eyes of those who live in The Seam and their high chances of practically being executed by their own government._

_Katniss let go, and I was brought back to my senses as she quickly jogged to the front of my house. And as every year on this night, I would drift off into a heavy sleep until the next morning, awaking with fear._

Opposing last night's setting sun, I awoke to the rising of the sun. I slipped on a worn-out shirt, a change of pants, and my boots. I grabbed my hunting bag off the rickety chair near the back door and headed out to meet Katniss in the woods. Today was the day I longed to tell her what I've always wanted to.

She was already nestled in the crook in our big rock, as we do every year on reaping day.

"Mornin', Catnip," I shouted from a distance, far enough to startled her.

She quickly turned around with a perturbed face that said more than words could.

I settled in next to her on the rock, and as always, the silence between us was comfortable.

Much more comfortable than the cries and screams of the families of chosen tributes later that afternoon.

She broke the silence, saying, "I brought you a gift."

She quickly glanced at me as a I raised a brow before rummaging into her bag, pulling out a dilapidated, old book.

Her family's plant book.

"You're giving me the book?" I asked curiously, as it was a part of Mr. Everdeen's past.

Katniss' eyes broke away and looked at the far mountains and said in a quiet mumble, "I just thought... I just thought that, you know, if anything were to happen today, you should have it. For you, and your kids, and while-"

What was she saying? I was in complete awe as Katniss crumbled right before my eyes. My heart was thumping, and I was almost sure that her ears that were trained for hunting could hear it beat.

"Catnip, look at me," I said firmly as I grabbed her left hand with my right, "Nothing is going to happen to you today. Or ever, as a matter of fact. I promise."

"How can you be so sure?" she finally turned around with her eyes watering up.

"Because," my voice cracking and my own grey eyes meeting hers, "I love you, Catnip."

I said it louder this time. "I love you, Katniss Everdeen."

A definitive fact. Always has been, and always will.

Her face froze up.

"Gale, I can't think about those things right now, I, I-" she began to stutter.

This girl. I scrunched my face at her saying, "Well, when you can think about those things," I stood up and grabbed my bag, "you know where to find me."


End file.
